Karamelo Santo

Haciendo Bulla

4.5

by S. James Wegg

Publish Date: February 8, 2007

Well-crafted collection

Punk Rock lovers and those with a taste for all things Latino will savour the edgy, smartly crafted tracks that comprise Karamelo Santo’s Haciendo Bulla (Making Racket) CD (with “Tu Pa Mi” also in a video format—adding even more impact to the rapid-fire declamations of Goy and Martino Gesualdi’s stellar trombone interventions). “Tu Quieres Matarme (Your Questions Kill Me),” with its deliciously eerie intro, Hammond fill and whispering voices floods the speakers with much raucous and roll. Goy’s howling guitar solo goes through a metamorphosis of its own, leaving the track’s final moments with an ethereal Gershwin riff that’s the musical icing to this richly hued cake. (The bonus remix a darker chocolate still! It’s “Fantasma” plus.) The three-way Chipmunk-close-harmony vocals found in “Mamina” (a Paso Doblo for the twenty-first century) compels from the driving opening to the vocal backbeat “hus” in the coda. Hey! Indeed. The full-blooded chorus of Los Cangrejos (The Crabs) produces a Latin “sing, sing, sing” whose cantus firmus is an intriguing first cousin of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.” Even more fun is the sliding modulation—who needs horns with voices like these? Lucas Villafane’s accordion is always welcome (sets the easy feel of “El Garron” from the git go) as is Pablo Clavijo’s reedy sax (showed off to advantage in “El Duende Loco”). The rhythmic engine is kept on fire (“Haciendo Bulla”) or cooled as required by Piro Rosafa and Mariano Ponce de Leon (with a little help from their friends on selected songs). While a few moments of waning energy slip in occasionally, the overwhelming majority of the band’s charts whet the appetite for further servings. JWR

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